Jinan has set its goals for establishing an iconic industrial chain cluster for new energy vehicles and a research, development and manufacturing base for new energy equipment in 2023.

Jinan's retail sales of new energy vehicles above designated size increased by 87.5 percent in 2022 from that in 2021 and the new energy vehicle's retail sales volume in Jinan hit 10.41 billion yuan ($1.53 billion) during the same time period.

BYD, one of China's new energy vehicle manufacturers, had its first phase project of the new energy automobile and components industrial base in the Jinan Start-up Area for Growth Drivers Transformation put into operation successfully on Nov 30, 2022, and is working on the second phase project, which is expected to be operational in the latter half of this year. By then, the new energy vehicle manufacturer's industrial base is expected to gather a group of upstream and downstream industries and create nearly 40,000 jobs.

In addition to developing this year's projects, Jinan also plans to develop the localization of new energy vehicles' supportive equipment by introducing relative enterprises and piloting a slew of projects such as the coordinated development of smart city infrastructure and smart connected vehicles.

Along with developing the new energy vehicles sector, Jinan also boasts a potential market for new energy vehicles, according to a survey on Jinan's residents' willingness to buy new energy vehicles, which involved 17 vehicle selling enterprises and 149 residents with middle or above incomes.